A little dance (and a little preview)

I wanted the boys' room done before Turtle made his presence in the world, and it didn't happen.

Ever since I made peace with that fact, I haven't really wanted to work on it at all. Today, though, my mom called and wanted to hang out and I told her she could come over and help work on the room. This actually gave me no out - she came over and said, "what first?"

So we took the doors off the closet (which made such a difference) and put up my cute Ikea shelves, arranged the new side table for my glider AND ...

... I found the dots that I wanted to put on the wall! When I decided that I wanted to add a color to Spencer's room to freshen up the previous blue/brown/white scheme, I chose lime green based on my cute Ikea shelves and painted the closet Behr's Lime Pop (exact color match) and my thought was to have blue, lime green and brown bubbles coming up the walls (which are previously striped). I just couldn't find bubbles or dots anywhere! I've been looking for months, seriously. And today, I found them at my lovely, wonderful, amazing Target.

Here's a preview, because I'm not done with the room so you don't get to see all of my genius:

**update on Project: Neighbor!

I was sitting outside on a blanket with Turtle while The Boy rode his tricycle, and Mr. Neighbor came out to his SUV to leave ... he backed over his empty garbage cans, and then drove straight over one of them so I WENT TO HELP HIM PICK THEM UP! Score one for me for being the helpful neighbor (not so much as when one of our other neighbors helped him sod in the rain, but hey, I was nine months pregnant! And it was a monsoon!).

Anyhow, so I'm hoping that being the helpful neighbor scores me some points and not that Mr. Neighbor will now be embarrassed because he was the idiot who drove over his garbage cans and got one stuck under his vehicle and I was there to witness it.

The return of Menu Mondays!

Monday: Penne a la Betsy
Tuesday: Meatloaf burgers
Wednesday: chicken enchiladas
Thursday: Jalapeno poppers and salad
Friday: bacon-wrapped shrimp skewers w/ risotto
Saturday: steak and balsamic potatoes


I know it probably won't all get done, but it's worth a shot!

Won't you be my neighbor?

I never knew my neighbors growing up. We moved a lot (9 times in 18 years) and I continued that trend into college and adulthood (12 times in 12 years). But now that I've bought a house, I've always wanted to know my neighbors. I wanted to live in the kind of neighborhood that had block parties, and where everyone know each other. Where you'd often have neighbors over to watch the game, or be over their house for a BBQ ... like something you'd see on any 50s sit-com.

Unfortunately, sometime between being in college and being in the real world, I lost my nerve to actually meet new people. You know, make friends. How does an adult make friends?

About 2 months ago, we got new neighbors. They seem to be very nice people, around our age, with A BOAT and are possibly sports-minded (this is a plus). Also, I think the wife might be pregnant (I can't tell yet, but Hubby says that the husband mentioned something along those lines when they were both out in the yards). But I can't figure out how to befriend these people. When they moved in, I often waited for them to be in the yard sprucing things up and I went out to get the mail (even if I had already gotten it for the day) so that I could make small talk. But now the yard is done and they are rarely outside so it's hard for me -- should I walk over and knock? What do I say?

I have no idea when she's due, so I can't just go over and bring food when she has the baby. And I'm terrified of going over there without a reason. What should I do? What would you do?

Thoughts on a pedicure

I had a pretty bad trip to the dental hygienist yesterday I was poked and prodded and told that I don't brush enough and I don't floss enough and I have three new cavities ... THREE!

So afterward I went to get a pedicure. The salon seemed nice enough, and the tools seemed clean enough. The lady? No good.

An hour later, my toes look like this:




Ouch! Here goes the Neosporin so that hopefully I don't almost lose an appendage like Paula Abdul.

Scenes from a marriage -format borrowed from Slynnro

Me (on the way across the bridge into St Pete to drop off dry cleaning because Hubby is partial to the dry cleaner near my work): oh look, the exits changed. This wasn't like this before while I was working (pointing across the bridge to the lanes going the other way)

15 minutes later, on the way back across the bridge:

Me: traffic's backing up. People must not know what lane to be in because of the lanes

Him: ...

Me (as we pass the exit) we should have been in that lane

Him: Shit. That wasn't like that before

Me: ...

Him: That must have been what the back up was.

Me: ...

Him They should put up signs earlier.

Me: They did

Him: ...



Note to self: add "find new, closer dry cleaner" to my to-do list

To-dos for the next nine weeks

My husband has been home for the last 2 1/2 weeks.

This would normally be a wonderful thing, except that while he's here I feel like we're on vacation and so I haven't been doing much of anything. I don't think I'm supposed to do anything for a few weeks while I'm recovering, but I hate sitting around being idle. One or two days - lovely. Three weeks makes me feel like a slovenly sloth.

While I'm home, I'd like to:

• clean both bathrooms well


• finish the boys' room (and take pictures)


• take The Boy to the playground or to do something fun at least once a week


• attempt to potty-train The Boy


• take good pictures of Turtle and Turtle and The Boy


• find a place that sells the Kindle and can give me a demonstration so I can think hard about whether I want one


• read one book a week (average - I usually read more than that in a week, but then I'll go a week without reading at all)


• watch five movies total that I want to see that Hubby doesn't


• start working out on the Wii Fit a few times a week (and maybe see if The Boy wants to join in)


• go for a walk at least three times a week

This list might be a little overboard, but I'd rather have it out there and hopefully finish than just sit around for the next two months aimlessly.